The present invention relates to the field of communications and more particularly to a system and method for converting and delivering an electronic mail message as speech to one or more telephone recipients. Electronic mail (or xe2x80x9ce-mailxe2x80x9d) message systems allow transmission of messages between computer-based users connected on a distributed network. Depending on the capabilities of a particular message system, graphics, audio, or simple text messages can be sent between these users.
Today, more and more people use electronic mail and the Internet as a means for communicating with others and gathering and disseminating information. When a user is at home or work where the user has a computer, sending and receiving e-mail or accessing the Internet is relatively quick and easy. Communicating with others who have similar e-mail systems is obviously also very easy. However, many people still do not have e-mail accounts and thus people with e-mail accounts have no choice but to communicate with these people through conventional methods of communication like the telephone. Additionally, some people that do have e-mail may still prefer to communicate by conventional means such as by the telephone. Many of these people still consider e-mail to be a very impersonal and unprofessional way to communicate.
Furthermore, the popularity of e-mail as a means of communication has resulted in the problem of people having too many messages in their e-mail accounts. Many of these e-mails may be unwanted solicitations or so-called xe2x80x9cSPAMxe2x80x9d messages. Thus, many times, each e-mail is typically not given the attention and care as say, a voice-based message may be given by a user.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have an electronic mail system which could provide the user with more varied ways to convey messages, especially to people who do not have access to e-mail or who may not want to use their e-mail.
The present invention is a messaging system which provides for the creation, conversion and delivery of electronic mail messages as speech to one or more telephone recipients. The system receives an electronic mail message, converts the electronic mail message into speech and delivers the converted message to a telephone recipient identified in the electronic mail message. The system includes means for creating an electronic mail message which identifies a telephone recipient, means for converting the electronic mail message to speech and means for delivering the converted electronic mail message to the telephone recipient identified in the electronic mail message. The system of the present invention utilizes text-to-speech technology to convert the text in the electronic mail message into speech. In one embodiment of the present invention, the intended telephone recipient is identified in the subject line of the electronic mail message. Alternatively, the telephone recipient may be identified in other sections of the electronic mail message, such as the body of the message.
The system of the present invention may provide for secure transmission of the electronic mail messages as speech by requiring a user to enter in a personal identification number or password to authorize delivery of the electronic mail message to the telephone recipient. Additionally, the user creating the message may specify a personal identification number which the recipient of the message must properly enter before the recipient is allowed to listen to the message.
A user interface for using the message processing system of the present invention may implemented on a computer screen which allows a user to specify the telephone number of an intended recipient of the electronic mail message. The system may be a local system where an electronic mail message is created, converted and sent as speech on a user""s local computer or preferably, on a centralized system where a number of remote users, such as electronic mail clients may send electronic mail messages which are converted into speech and delivered to a variety of intended telephone recipients.
In addition to the converted electronic mail message, a user may identify an audio file which may also be played for the telephone recipient. The user may specify that the audio file be played before, after or even inserted during the converted text message.